


donuts doughn't lie

by andthencoffee (yawawoo)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Bad Puns, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Mark Lee (NCT)-centric, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:08:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27698080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yawawoo/pseuds/andthencoffee
Summary: Mark has been dreaming about donuts lately and it's scary. He doesn't know what that means, but most importantly he's trying not to get his hopes up and assume thatit's happening.‘It’ being… you know, theRevelation. That Mark's soulmate-finding journey has something to do with donuts, of all things.
Relationships: Mark Lee/Na Jaemin
Comments: 8
Kudos: 90
Collections: Challenge #3 — soulmates





	donuts doughn't lie

**Author's Note:**

> Shout-out to my senpai for beta'ing this and leaving hilarious comments on the Docs file ;___;
> 
> I decided on this pairing as I was filling out the sign up form lmao sorry if I don't have their interactions accurate yet. I'm learning!  
> ( ꈍᴗꈍ)
> 
> Lame puns ahead, proceed with caution~

Mark has been dreaming about donuts lately and it's scary. He doesn't know what that means, but most importantly he's trying not to get his hopes up and assume that _it's happening._

‘It’ being… you know, the _Revelation_. That Mark's soulmate-finding journey has something to do with donuts, of all things. 

Maybe it runs in the family or something, having food-related Revelations, because his mom and dad dreamed about maple syrup. The next day after they had that dream, they both went to the nearest store to buy some, and they met just like that, while reaching for the same bottle. Mark heard from his aunt that they had almost named his older brother Maple. 

Said brother is kind of indifferent to the whole concept of getting hints about your soulmate via dreams. When Mark asked him why, he said that he'd know if he'd met the one, dream or no dream. Last time Mark Skyped him, the man admitted to being single as a pringle, so Mark can't conclude anything just yet. Mark does think that ‘Donut’ would make a cute nickname for his kid someday, though.

Despite finding himself somewhat warming up to the idea, the frequent donut dreams stress Mark out so much that he finally tells the first friends he meets about it. Friends who happen to be Donghyuck and Yang Yang, for better or worse.

"I think you're just experiencing a donut overdose, considering the amount you've been inhaling since that cute shop opened last month," Donghyuck says dismissively, even as he snatches the oreo donut from the medium-sized box Mark just bought from said shop.

Mark frowns at Donghyuck's non-existent manners and quickly slides the box away and towards Yang Yang, who perks up and says thank you properly with a gummy smile.

“Why is it stressing you out so much in the first place, anyway?” Donghyuck asks, cheek bulging. “You often experience these kinda things, right? Things that really left an impression on you always carried on to your dreams. Like that one time you had a nightmare because you burned an egg."

“Yeah but like, I’ve been dreaming about donuts three days a week. Do you think it’s… _y’know_?”

“What? What is it? Say it.”

“ _Whatifit’smyRevelation_?” 

Donghyuck and Yang Yang both stare at him in silence, still munching on their donuts. Mark is actually a bit unsettled by the contemplative looks on their faces.

“That could be the case. I mean, it makes sense, in my opinion,” Yang Yang starts slowly after swallowing. “The timing’s right, isn’t it? You’ve been to the shop a lot, and only that shop, for almost two months. You don’t buy donuts anywhere else, right?”

Mark shakes his head. He picks up a strawberry jam donut, takes a bite and groans. “Their donuts are just so good. Oh my god, this _jam_.”

“Okay, we get it, it’s so good that you’re making pornographic sounds which none of us wants to hear. You know what, there’s only one way to find out. Go to the shop even more, be on the lookout, and call us if you ever buy too many donuts. I’m praying for your wallet.”

“Oh man, I didn’t even think about that...” Mark says with wide eyes, hand freezing halfway from delivering the last bite of his donut to his mouth.

“Sometimes love requires sacrifices,” Yang Yang says wisely as he wipes oreo crumbs from the corner of Donghyuck’s lips.

🍩🍩🍩

Now that Donghyuck and Yang Yang have somewhat contributed supporting arguments to Mark’s metaphorical research paper on the possibility of donuts as the red string that ties him to his soulmate, Mark is like, hyper-aware of everything that's happening. Good thing it's summer break, because Mark has all the time to think about it. It's also unfortunate that it's summer break, because nothing is stopping Mark from going to the shop almost every two days.

It really can't be that easy, right?

Here's the breakdown:

A new donut shop opened just five minutes away from Mark's dorm last month. Mark decided to visit on its opening week because they offered 50% off of their medium boxes, and customers were free to choose any flavor and fillings. 

Mark is a fan of jam. The shop makes their own fruit jams. Mark becomes a fan of their jams. Mark becomes a regular customer. Mark starts having really vivid dreams about various jam-filled donuts, about eating them, and about eating a donut that stays round no matter how many bites Mark has taken out of it.

Everything might not make sense, but at the same time it does, and Mark gets hungry when he uses his brain a lot. But it's three in the afternoon, he's had lunch… so donut it is. Mark collects his headphones and laptop, stuffs them in his Jansport and gets out the door.

He is so nervous about it all that he speedwalks to the shop and reaches it in three and a half minutes.

The heavenly smell of donuts envelops him when Mark steps into Donuts Doughn't Lie. Mark has never really seen the shop _packed_ , but there's always a steady stream of people going in and out, some vaguely familiar to him, probably students he's seen on campus.

When Mark finally takes his eyes off the display, what greets him isn't Hendery's goofy, wide smile, but a weirdly… flirtatious smile? From someone Mark's never seen before behind the counter. Whose eyes curve upwards with his smile, his hair as pink as strawberry cream.

"Hi," says the owner of the smile, and Mark might be hearing things wrong but that's definitely a flirtatious tone and eyebrow lift. _What is happening–_

"Hey, Mark! Jaemin is just messing with you, don't mind him," Hendery shouts from the kitchen.

"Am I?" Jaemin wonders out loud, still smiling and looking at Mark. "'neways, hi for _realz_ , I'm Jaemin, Food Science '18. Been in the back since opening, but I've heard from everyone that you're our most regular-regular. That's amazing and all, although I hope your diet doesn't consist entirely of donuts? But we need to make money so… which round goodness _arouses_ your interest today?"

"Oh, um," Mark swallows. He's forgotten all about his hunger and the strawberry jam donuts he was eyeing in the face of a confident boy with a wide smile and wild talking rhythm. Mark's seen Na Jaemin before, by the coffee vending machines on campus, heard his name in the giggles of some of his classmates. "Um…"

“You like donuts with _jaem_ right?” Mark hears Jaemin say, and his brain short-circuits so fast he doesn't even hear Hendery choking on his own spit by the displays.

"What?"

"You like donuts with _jaem_ ," Jaemin repeats, his wide, ridiculous, ~~pretty~~ smile never wavering. "Don't you, Mark?"

"Yes?"

Jaemin beams and Mark feels a bit like passing out. "Great! Today… our special is the apricot _jaem_. It's very shiny, much like a glaze, and your hair. It's a pretty color." 

🍩🍩🍩

The donut dreams stop and it's _scary_.

Mark doesn't know what that means, but most importantly, he's trying not to get his hopes up and assume that he's actually _met_ his soulmate.

Mark doesn't go to the shop for two weeks.

He doesn’t know _why_ , okay? He just _panicked_. Imagine going to the shop not really expecting anything out of the ordinary to _actually_ happen only to meet Na Jaemin. No, no, no. No way.

See, it literally can be _anyone_. The girl he almost bumped into as he made his way to the counter two weeks ago. The food delivery man lining up behind Mark near the displays. The old lady he helped open the door on his way out of the shop. _Any_ of the customers in the shop when Mark was there.

Damn, it could be Hendery. God, what if it's _Hendery_? Not that Mark has anything against Hendery. He's a good guy, really pretty and handsome in a way that's almost unfair. But Mark heard from Yang Yang who heard from his _sunbae's_ friend who heard from the student intern at the local library that Hendery's had his eyes on a top player in the uni's soccer team for a few months now. Mark hasn't had the right opportunity to ask, even though he knows some people from the team.

That got him thinking, too. Mark wonders if there's anyone out there who loves someone else's soulmate. What if _his_ soulmate loves someone else? 

Mark wonders and ponders and thinks and _overthinks_.

🍩🍩🍩

Donghyuck arrives in his late-night gaming attire when Mark calls him at two in the morning, sneaking him into the dorms through the fire exit. He sits with Mark on his unmade bed, helps tucking in the corners of his sheets and puts a hand on his nervous leg.

"It can't be that easy, can it?" Mark says, hands shaking now that Donghyuck has a firm grip on his thigh.

"Here's the thing, Mark Lee," says Donghyuck, looking into Mark's eyes and pinning him with a seriousness that's almost scary. "I don't know why you're so fucking stubborn. Why are you so keen on making it this hard? Why are you so against everything being _easy_?"

Mark can't really say anything in answer.

 _What_ is stopping him?

🍩🍩🍩

"Mom," Mark almost whines into the phone. "Mom, help me."

 _"What is it, sweetheart? Did your egg catch on fire again?"_ comes the reply, sounding ever-patient. Mark cracks a smile, running a hand through his bangs and pulling at the hair on the crown of his head to clear his mind.

"Mom, I think I had my Revelation and I'm _scared_. I don't know what to do or what to think, it's all I think about, but I also wish it isn't because it's scary."

_"Oh, sweetheart. My Markle Sparkle. What is it that you fear?"_

"Everything, Mom. Sometimes I can't stop shaking thinking about it. What if I'm not what they expected? What if I got the wrong person? How does this _work_ , Mom? What if they don't want me?"

_"Mark, be honest with me. You already have someone in mind, don't you, honey?"_

"I do. But I–how can I be _sure_? What if I'm _wrong_. What if they're someone else's?"

_"Mark, listen to me. It's your heart that speaks. For me, meeting your dad was really weird. I thought I was just really craving maple syrup, you know? I hadn't even thought of anything else. All I knew was that I had to get that particular brand, in that particular store. When our hands touched and our eyes met, your dad was very straightforward about it. He said to me, 'I had a dream and a feeling that I'll meet my soulmate today. Do you maybe want to talk about it?' and paid the bottle for me. I found myself saying yes like a reflex."_

"So… I should just… ask them? Talk to them?"

_"Of course. Unless you like the pain of pining and miscommunication from lack of actual communication. Oh, unless you're actually using this for your writing inspiration?"_

"Mo _oom!_ "

 _"Just messing with you, Markle Sparkle. I believe in you! And anything can happen if_ you _believe in it. I love you so much."_

"Love you too, Mom."

🍩🍩🍩

On a fine Saturday afternoon, Mark has finally gathered enough courage to go out and visit the shop. And he's been on a donut withdrawal, among other things. He needs his fix of jam-filled donuts (and perhaps there’s a silly smile he can't get out of his mind). 

He needs to do something else, too.

And so Mark marches through his dorm hallways and into the streets, under the 3PM summer sky, with assured footsteps and a heart that beats a mile a minute.

However, Mark is stopped in his tracks by a rather surprising and unexpected sight.

Jaemin is… Mark isn't sure what's happening but there's a really tall guy with a blond bun and an armful of Jaemin. Mark has to blink several times to understand that he's lifting up the shorter man so that he can… fix the plants on the top shelf of one of the shop's many wooden displays.

Mark is totally blocking the door but he can't take his eyes off the way the man's arms linger around Jaemin even as he slides down and lands softly on the ground. Their faces are really close. Jaemin is smiling up at the stranger so freely.

"Oh, Mark!"

Mark turns and it's Hendery who noticed him first. Mark's glad he doesn't see Jaemin's reaction, or if there's any at all. Mark ducks his head and moves to the counter. Hendery smiles, but Mark can't bring himself to return it in full force. His head is reeling a bit. His ears are ringing.

Hendery's eyes follow something behind Mark. It's Jaemin, leisurely walking to take the shorter man's post behind the counter, and he's now smiling at Mark like nothing happened. Like he doesn't know Mark lost a lot of sleep in the two weeks he's been gone.

"Hel- _lo._ Been busy?" Jaemin asks, and his easy smile pushes the lump in Mark's chest up to his throat.

"What were you doing?" Mark asks, and immediately he knows it came out wrong, accusing. What a shitty reflex reaction.

Jaemin looks a bit taken aback. "Rearranging the shelves to make room for some new and very cute succulents."

"The way you did it was dangerous. You should've, I don't know, grab a stool or something…" Mark's mouth runs, it's out of control.

"Sorry, but what are you trying to say? I don't understand what's going on…?"

This conversation is going really, really badly. Jaemin has lost the playful edge in his smile, and it hurts to look at him looking so lost.

"Nothing, sorry. Can I have a strawberry yogurt, please? I'll eat it here. Thanks."

Mark almost misses the seat of the corner table farthest from the counter as his legs give out under him. What a _disaster_. Mark stares at the yogurt in the glass cup, three strawberry slices at the top gleaming under the late afternoon sun. Their inner layer is a very soft and pale pink. Like Jaemin's hair, although today his roots are starting to show. Mark doesn't even eat yogurt, it makes his stomach all weird and gassy. Everything is a _mess_.

Is this a sign? That they're not meant to be? After all, his mom's first reaction when meeting his dad was a positive one. Something that actually helped their progress. Mark's reflex was to be upset, snappish and incoherent. He literally wiped the smile off Jaemin's face.

But… is he really going to give up? Is he really going to believe that this is it? Is he really going to go down this downward spiral Donghyuck keeps warning him about and get stuck there? What's been stopping Mark all this time has been _himself_ , and his thoughts, these useless 'what if's.

But really, _what if_ it's really that easy? What if Mark gets up and apologizes and–

"Hey, Jaemin…"

"Yeah?"

Jaemin puts down the cat-paw tongs he's been repeatedly squeezing and gives Mark his full attention. He has a grin that doesn't reach his eyes. Mark sucks in a long, deep breath.

"Dude, I'm so sorry I was horrible earlier. I just," a huge exhale. "I have a lot on my mind."

Jaemin looks down a bit, fiddles with a loose thread on his apron. "That's alright."

"Look… I… _you've_ been on my mind a lot. I have so much to say right now. Do you want me to continue?"

Jaemin looks up sharply, eyes wide, and Mark just wants to squish his cheeks. "Please do."

"Okay. Okay," a huge, huge inhale. Mark is going to do it. He's going to say it. "So I recently had my Revelation. I dreamed about one thing over and over and over again, for a whole two months. The dreams stopped after I met you. They say that can happen when you've met your soulmate. It literally can be anyone else but I feel like it's you. Is it you? Have you had _your_ Revelation yet? And is it about donuts, because if it's not forget I said anything, I-"

"Mark," Jaemin cuts in, gently, and Mark looks down where Jaemin's hand covers his balled up fist on the counter. "Mark, breathe. I get it."

"Y-you do?"

"Do you think 'Donut' will make a cute nickname for a kid?”

Mark inhales, and answers with his whole chest, “Hell yeah.”

"Okay," Jaemin says, tapping Mark's hand. "Okay. I think we should… talk about it?"

"We should, yeah."

"My shift ends in an hour, you wanna take a walk along the river after?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Sweet. Now do you want to actually get some donuts? I made _tons_ of jam these past weeks in hopes of summoning you."

🍩🍩🍩

(And they walk, and talk, and the way Jaemin holds his hand does prove that sometimes this whole soulmate-finding business really is that easy once Mark dares to _believe_ it.)

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:  
> After writing this story I found out that calling someone a donut is considered a mild insult in England. But since I'm not English nor I am a native English speaker, to me calling someone Donut can be a cute nickname, just like what Mark and Jaemin think! I imagine the setting to be somewhere in Korea as well, so the word doesn't have a pejorative meaning, ok! Alright that's all(｡•̀ᴗ-)✧
> 
> Thank you for reading!  
> Kudos and comments would really make my day (◕ᴗ◕✿)


End file.
